


Phenomenal Feline

by vegapunkd



Category: Kamen Rider Build
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Cat, Gen, Movie Spoilers, Rating for Language, idek you guys, person turning into cat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-03
Updated: 2018-10-03
Packaged: 2019-07-24 17:30:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16179833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vegapunkd/pseuds/vegapunkd
Summary: (takes place post-Be The One Movie, pre-The Barbecue Scene) (thus general movie spoilers)Banjou is suddenly a cat, and the Nascita Fam rolls with it.





	Phenomenal Feline

**Author's Note:**

> No apologies here :DDD
> 
> General spoilers for the Be The One Movie, mostly stuff you could probably figure out from the trailer...the trailer might tell you more actually, and it might remember what shirt Gentoku was wearing better than I do, who knows.
> 
> Mostly I just needed a reason for Cat!Banjou and couldn't quite bring myself to give Evolt credit for it. So.
> 
> It is...frustrating...to write from Kazumi's POV and also have Misora exist as a character -_- I couldn't quite bring myself to divorce from the source entirely, so instead Kazumi is a doormat that Misora occasionally glances down at as she walks over it :P
> 
> Ships are sailing about the same course they do in-show ;) Take or leave at your leisure~

Kazumi didn’t know what to think. They’d finally gotten back to Nascita after two very long days. Between everyone getting brainwashed and getting shoved in a cell with Gentoku for a night, Kazumi was pretty wiped. He was sure Sento was more so, having been the one being chased around. Gentoku was in the same boat as Kazumi, and Sawa and Misora had had to deal with being forced to do Inoo’s bidding.

  


They were all tired, he reasoned. Tired enough to hallucinate the same thing? From the looks on everyone’s faces, they were clearly seeing the same thing he was, which was _impossible_ , and yet...

  


“ _Mraw_? _Mraaawww?!?_ ” The tortoiseshell cat that was standing in a pile of the clothes Banjou had been wearing sounded pretty upset. It twisted around frantically, still caught inside the black button down, and Sawa moved forward to carefully tug the clothes away, eyes wide with disbelief.

  


Freed, Banj—the _cat_ —spun in a panicked circle, staggering around on paws it apparently wasn’t used to. The lab was still a mess after what Kazumi had heard to be an epic fight between Sawa, Misora, and Sento, and the cat crashed into an upended chair and scrambled to get its footing on papers that slid over the floor.

  


Kazumi instinctively got out of the way as it sprinted in his direction, and it practically dove under Misora’s bed. There was a loud _thump!_ as the cat must’ve slammed into the wall, before everything went silent again.

  


The silence continued for a few long moments. Kazumi looked between the pile of clothes on the floor where Banjou had been standing mere minutes before, to the bed, where a cat had taken refuge. He wasn’t quite willing to connect those dots just yet, and he looked once again to the other four, hoping someone would have a better explanation.

  


Sento had his eyes closed, fingers rubbing at the bridge of his nose, and Sawa was carefully folding up the shirt she was holding, setting it next to the leather shoes and dress pants it came with. Misora was biting her thumb, staring at the bed, and looking extremely cute in the process.

  


Gentoku...Kazumi’s hand snapped out before he could even fully process the sound reaching his ears, grabbing the taller man’s hand before he could get the zipper on his jacket down any further.

  


“Don’t you dare,” he threatened, feeling very sure he did not want to know what shirt Gentoku was wearing now. (He’d been wearing the “beard” one earlier hadn’t he? When could he have changed?)

  


Gentoku scowled at him, but slowly let his hand drop. They had a brief stare-off, where Kazumi was absolutely sure Gentoku was going to go for it again as soon as he turned his back, but luckily Sento moved before anything could go down.

  


Sento knelt down by the bed, a look of resigned exasperation on his face, like he couldn’t quite believe what he was doing. Kazumi got a feeling of intense foreboding in his gut, and he turned to face Sento instead. He’d thought Sento would be an ally in this, a voice of reason, but Sento was already opening his mouth and Kazumi knew exactly what was going to come out.

  


“Don’t say it!” Kazumi snapped, trying to head him off but—

  


“Banjou?”

  


Another long moment of mostly silence, broken only by the soft sound of a zipper being sneakily pulled down. Then there was an honestly very pathetic-sounding meow, and Kazumi looked to the ceiling wondering if he could will himself to disappear.

  


~~~~

  


Misora was the one to finally coax Banjou (who was a cat now, apparently) out from under the bed, and now she was holding him in her arms, petting him slowly until his fur stopped standing on end. Kazumi was busy trying to get out of the headlock Gentoku had put him in, dead set on strangling Banjou, cat or no. What had he done to get himself trapped in this nightmare, he wondered as he tried in vain to ignore the Nyan Cat flying happily across Gentoku’s shirt. He nearly bit Gentoku when the other man patted his head.

  


“I guess it could be an after effect of being absorbed by Inoo,” Sento ventured finally, looking more than a little dubious. He ran a hand through his hair, then sighed. “I should take some readings, try and figure out what happened.”

  


Everyone looked back at Sento with blank looks and shrugs. He sighed again as he turned to head into the lab. Then they all froze as Banjou meowed grumpily, shifting in Misora’s arms before jumping, landing with some awkward grace on Sento’s shoulders (Kazumi was impressed despite himself). Sento turned his head to stare at the cat, and Banjou made another, annoyed sound. Sento didn’t move for a long moment, then he snorted.

  


“It’s not like you’re any better at personal space when you’re human,” he remarked, and continued into the lab.

  


Kazumi took advantage of the distraction to shove Gentoku off of himself, then crossed his arms with a scowl. This was his world now, apparently, where people could just turn into cats. Fine, whatever.

  


Sawa grabbed a few papers off of the floor, straightening them and putting them on the table before she looked over to the clothes Banjou had been wearing.

  


“What should we do with these?” she asked, carefully arranging them into a pile. Kazumi frowned at the garments. Banjou hadn’t looked bad in them, but to think that Inoo had gone that extra little step to make it clear that Banjou was his…

  


“Burn them,” Misora said flatly. Kazumi shrugged and spread his hands when Sawa looked to him.

  


“Far be it for me to disagree with Miitan,” he said with a grin that felt a little sharp.

  


“Banjou?” Sawa asked, leaning into the lab.

  


“Burn them?” Kazumi could hear Sento ask. A pause, then Sento raised his voice in confirmation. “Burn ‘em.”

  


Sawa nodded in agreement, reaching out for the clothes before she hesitated, giving Gentoku a guilty glance. She clearly felt bad about accidentally leaving him out of their impromptu vote. Kazumi eyed him warily, then snorted as Gentoku simply tilted his head before pulling a lighter out of his pocket and offering it to her.

  


“You don’t even smoke, why do you have that?” Kazumi berated him with a laugh as Sawa took it with a bemused look at the design, a bejeweled skull and crossbones on a shiny purple background.

  


“Atmosphere,” was Gentoku’s rumbled reply.

  


Kazumi looked between the lighter, the Nyan Cat shirt, and Gentoku’s somber face, and cracked up laughing again.

  


He helped Sawa gather up the clothes, then glanced back into the lab. Sento seemed relatively unperturbed to have his partner suddenly much smaller and furrier, rambling on like usual about formulas while he fiddled with his equipment. Banjou surely didn’t understand it any more than he normally did, but he seemed settled enough, tail flicking idly over Sento’s back as Sento moved about the lab.

  


“Ouch!” Sento yelped suddenly, pausing mid-spin. Banjou made an unhappy sound. “Okay, okay, no fast moves, just don’t forget you have claws now, dumbass.” Another rumble and Sento huffed but resumed moving at a slightly slower pace.

  


Kazumi shook his head. He supposed as smart as Sento was, it didn’t really matter if Banjou could talk or not.

  


~~~

  


The clothes burning was a somewhat strange affair, the four of them gathered on the roof silently watching the fabric smolder. The leather shoes were a different issue, and they all frowned down at them before Kazumi huffed and yanked the Trans-Steam gun out of Gentoku’s jacket. He aimed it at the shoes and fired, once, twice, three times until the shoes were nothing more than a few scraps that Sawa scooped into the metal drum with the rest of the remains. Gentoku sulked until Kazumi rolled his eyes and gave the gun back.

  


Another long pause, then Misora spoke, looking a little shy.

  


“I always wished I could have a barbecue,” she joked, and Kazumi clasped his hands together at the sight of her smile.

  


“We should have one!” Sawa jumped in, excited, even as she held out a hand in front of Kazumi’s face. He sighed blissfully as Misora looked suddenly hopeful, then moved to pull his wallet out of his back pocket.

  


“Anything for Miitan,” he chirped, counting out bills.

  


“Ah, especially if Kazumi would pay for the food,” Sawa suggested sweetly, and Kazumi added a few more bills to the stack, then a few more at Sawa’s raised eyebrow. “Great! I’ll go hit up some of the, er, unofficial shops downtown. I’m sure I can find something barbecue worthy.”

  


Kazumi considered that, knowing that the black market had to be even charging even more for anything decent these days. Then he sighed and pulled out a few more bills.

  


“Thanks~” Sawa’s grin looked suspiciously shark-like, and Kazumi pretended not to see her slip a few bills into Misora’s pocket as she turned to go.

  


“Is it okay though?” Misora wondered. “Banjou’s all...like that, and—”

  


“Mii—ulp.” Kazumi turned to respond but found himself done in by the kindness in her eyes. He sank to the ground, too at bliss to even get annoyed at Gentoku stepping over him.

  


“Don’t worry. Katsuragi will surely find a way to restore him. And if not, felines are carnivores.” Gentoku gestured to his shirt again, then nodded sharply before heading down the stairs.

  


A long pause. “Is he saying Banjou’s going to eat Sento?” Misora asked blankly.

  


“I think he meant Banjou’d enjoy the barbecue either way,” Kazumi wheezed, still out of breath. “But yeah, that was very sub-textual.”

  


Misora hmmed softly, then shrugged, following Gentoku and leaving Kazumi to make pathetic noises into the concrete.

  


~~~

  


Eventually he got back downstairs, fluttering past Misora in the kitchen where she was looking contemplatively at the kitchen shelves. She waved Kazumi away and he continued down through the refrigerator into the basement.

  


He grumbled as he had to squeeze past Gentoku at the foot of the stairs reading an article about taking care of cats on his phone.

  


“You are literally the last person he would want—“

  


“Just in case,” Gentoku didn’t seem bothered by Kazumi’s blunt comment, merely continuing to scroll.

  


Kazumi rolled his eyes, then turned to look into the lab.

  


He took a moment to process what he was seeing, then he shot forward, kicking Sento in the leg on his way to carefully scooping the cat out of the purification chamber that some dumbass genius had apparently put him in. There were sparks and wires everywhere, and Kazumi tugged his jacket over Banjou to protect his fur, wincing as a few landed on him.

  


“What are you doing?!” He and Sento both snapped at the same time.

  


“I’m trying to fix him!”

  


“You look like you’re trying to blow him up!”

  


“Just because you don’t know what you’re looking at—”

  


“I don’t need to know what it is to know it’s dangerous! And that you’re shit at knowing when to hit the brakes!” Kazumi was awkwardly clutching Banjou to his chest, which got progressively more awkward the more he thought about it. Banjou wasn’t quite trying to get away, but he didn’t seem happy about his current situation either, pawing in annoyance at Kazumi’s face.

  


Gentoku moved into the room behind Kazumi, looking carefully neutral. He took Banjou when Kazumi shoved the cat at him though, and Kazumi decided to take that as agreement.

  


“It’s not—I wouldn’t _hurt_ him,” Sento said, arms crossed in annoyance.

  


Kazumi sucked in a breath through his nose. He had words on the tip of tongue that were burning to get out, but he didn’t say them yet, couldn’t quite decide if they were fair or not. He and Gentoku had agreed to come back, and Banjou had never left, which made his stance pretty clear. Maybe it wasn’t worth it to push just to see if Sento broke.

  


Maybe it didn’t matter what he did or didn’t say, because he could see clear on Sento’s face that he heard it anyway, face tight with something between frustration and regret.

  


They were quiet for a long moment before Sento looked away. “I’ll do a few test runs,” he muttered.

  


“Right.” The breath slowly leaked out of his lungs, sharp relief that he and Sento were still on the same page.

  


“What do _you_ think?” Gentoku’s voice echoed a little bit in the room, and both Sento and Kazumi turned to look at him, and then at Banjou, who hurriedly tried to pretend he hadn’t just been licking his own back.

  


Banjou blinked at both of them, then sneezed before jumping from Gentoku’s arms to the bed. He miscalculated the distance and was left scrambling for a moment on the edge before he managed to drag himself up, curling into an embarrassed looking ball. (Kazumi died silently in envy at the thought of being able to lie on the bed where Miitan slept).

  


Sento rolled his eyes, turning back to his machine, and Kazumi dragged a chair over next to the bed, plopping down on it.

  


Then, a moment later, he spoke again to Gentoku. “What the hell are you doing?”

  


“He’s a cat,” Gentoku explained patiently, and Kazumi wanted to throw something at him. The focused look on the taller man’s face as he dangled a cat toy in front of the unimpressed feline didn’t help.

  


“He’s _Banjou_ , he’s not a cat! He’s a human—er, well...He’s Banjou!” Kazumi crossed his arms in a huff, sitting back in his chair. He scowled down at Gentoku, who was still on his hands and knees, waiting patiently with the cat toy. He shook it gently in front of Banjou, and got a paw to his face for his efforts. Kazumi bit back a snort and looked away, trying to retain his composure. He was _annoyed_ , damn it.

  


“He’s Banjou, as a cat. Ah.” Gentoku made a disappointed noise when Banjou snapped at the toy’s stick, breaking the toy between his teeth.

  


“But he’s still Banjou,” Kazumi continued, unable to help his smirk. It froze on his face when Banjou, apparently done with Gentoku, jumped up onto his lap for refuge. He stared down at his friend...the cat...for a long moment while Banjou yawned, then curled up into a ball. “Why are you on my lap?” Kazumi asked, more resigned than anything now. Banjou flicked an ear, but otherwise didn’t respond.

  


“And he’s a cat,” Gentoku explained again, now sitting cross-legged on the floor. He tugged at the bottom of his shirt, as if he thought Kazumi hadn’t seen it the first time. (Kazumi was starting to suspect Gentoku’s involvement in all this; how else would he have know to wear _that_ shirt?) “Katsuragi doesn’t seem to have a problem understanding it.”

  


“Sento,” Kazumi corrected absently, frowning down at Banjou.

  


“...Sento.” Gentoku sounded like the name didn’t quite fit his mouth.

  


“What?” Sento leaned over them, then gave the cat toy an exasperated look. “Were you _trying_ to piss him off?”

  


“But he’s a _cat_.” Gentoku frowned down at the toy.

  


“It’s still Banjou. Dangle some protein in front of him, it might be a different story.” Kazumi rolled his eyes to see Banjou’s ears flick in Sento’s direction, clearly interested. “I ran a few tests, everything looks okay.” Sento met Kazumi’s eyes for a moment, but didn’t push it, looking down to Banjou almost immediately. “You ready?”

  


Kazumi didn’t try to push it any further either. He’d made his point, and he knew Sento had listened.

  


Banjou stretched and made a soft noise before leaping back up to Sento’s shoulder, much more gracefully than he had the first time.

  


“You could walk on your own,” Sento grumbled, but he didn’t try to move Banjou at all.

  


Banjou looked small when Sento deposited him into the purification chamber (minus the sparks this time), and despite himself Kazumi knelt down to give him a few thumps on the back (too hard to qualify as pats). Banjou allowed it, but Kazumi had the feeling he was more anxious than Banjou was. Of course. Banjou trusted Sento implicitly, was probably more annoyed with Kazumi than anything for making him be a cat longer.

  


Sento nudged Kazumi aside and closed the door, and Kazumi stepped back, crossing his arms in what he decided was annoyance. He definitely wasn’t worried about some damn shrimp head that had gotten himself turned into a cat. For fuck’s sake.

  


He glanced up as Misora came down the stairs, and the three of them watched Sento as he turned on the machine and fiddled with some switches. There was the sound of machinery working for a moment, then a sudden _ding!_ as the small door on the side popped open.

  


“ _Uwaa_!!” A voice from inside the chamber yelped, and Kazumi tensed, moving forward a bit.

  


Sento waved him off. “That scares him every time, don’t worry about it.”

  


Slowly, the door opened, and Kazumi abruptly flashed back to the pile of clothes Banjou had left on the floor.

  


“ _Miiiiitann!_ ” he yelled, “Don’t loook!” He leaped to cover her eyes, running smack dab into something hard that sent him sprawling to the floor. He blinked up at Sento, who was still watching the machine as he let his elbow drop. “But…”

  


He trailed off to see Banjou stepping out of the machine, clothed in a t-shirt and jeans at least, even though his feet were bare.

  


“I put clothes in there for him, dumbass,” Sento’s words were lazy, but he was focused on Banjou, who was blinking dazedly, swaying slightly where he stood.

  


“I, um.” Banjou frowned at his hands, then his feet, and both Sento and Kazumi moved, each grabbing an arm to help him get down the stairs. A trip around the room later he was steadier, slowly remembering how to do everything on two feet again. He was pretty quiet though, and Kazumi nudged him worriedly.

  


“Ryuuga? Everything okay?”

  


“My nose is broke,” he muttered as they deposited him into a chair. “And my ears. And everything is bright.”

  


“Welcome back to being mostly human,” Sento told him cheerfully. “Aren’t I such a _genius_? Ow.” He scowled at Misora for punching his shoulder, and she rolled her eyes.

  


“Do you remember much?” she asked, putting a hand on Banjou’s back. Kazumi twitched, but tried to focus on what Banjou was saying.

  


“Yeah… It was weird. You guys were all...smelly. And noisy. Not really bad smelly. But like. I dunno. I mostly knew who was who by how you smelled, which was weird.” He paused, then sighed. “It’s been a weird day.”

  


“Two days,” Kazumi murmured. Banjou blinked, then looked to Sento, who grimaced and nodded.

  


“Oh. Huh. I don’t remember…” Banjou trailed off as Sento looked away, uncomfortable. “I don’t remember eating at all,” he said finally.

  


“Sawa’s getting stuff for a barbecue,” Misora piped up. “But maybe we can do that tomorrow, you look exhausted. All of you.” She ruffled Banjou’s hair, then poked the bags under Sento’s eyes, even sparing half a smile for Kazumi and Gentoku, and Kazumi clutched at his heart.

  


“Protein ramen then?” Banjou asked hopefully. Misora rolled her eyes, then nodded.

  


“Rest of you are on your own,” she told them cheerfully as she headed back up the stairs.

  


Kazumi sighed quietly. He honestly wouldn’t mind if the past couple days just erased themselves from existence. From the exhausting to the absurd, it was all a bit much.

  


Not that there weren’t some perks.

  


“Got a nice little souvenir here for you,” he grinned, dangling the remains of the cat toy in front of Banjou’s face. His grin widened when Banjou instinctively batted it away. “Maybe Beardy here was onto something, hmmm—oof!”

  


He hit the floor still snickering, though Banjou’s headlock (much more unforgiving than Gentoku’s) made breathing a bit difficult.

  


(totally worth it)

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading~ I tweet at rinkufan and tumble at vegapunkd :)


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